Games comprising a wheel or representation of a wheel and an indicator which moves relative to the wheel are known. These “wheel games” may be implemented as mechanical wheels, electro-mechanical wheels or generated by electronic displays such as video displays. Each wheel usually comprises a number of segments, each segment representing a particular game outcome.
Gaming systems are known which utilise wheel games as secondary or “feature” games in addition to a “base” game played by the gaming system.
It is also known to provide a gaming system which comprises a game controller which is arranged to randomly display several symbols from a pre-determined set of symbols and to determine a game outcome such as a game win based on the displayed symbols. Such gaming systems may commonly be implemented as a stepper machine provided with reels with each reel carrying several symbols of the set, or a video machine where the selected symbols are displayed as virtual reels on a graphical display device. Outcomes can occur based on symbols appearing on one or more horizontal lines, diagonal lines, or in any other pre-determined way.
It is known in gaming systems to provide reel games as a base game and a wheel game as a feature game generated as an outcome of the base reel game e.g. a particular symbol or symbol selection occurring in the base game may result in generation of a feature game played as a wheel game.
A problem with wheel games is that gaming regulations for some markets, including most Australian markets, require that the odds for wheel games must reflect the odds that a person would expect from viewing the wheel. For example, a wheel with six segments would generally be expected to carry odds of 6:1 for selection of a particular segment. This makes it more difficult to offer large prizes on a wheel because the larger the prize, the more effect it will have on the overall return to the player of the game. To support a large prize, either the chances of the player actually activating the wheel feature have to be very low or the amount of the average wager of the player needs to be high.
An advantage of wheel games is that it has been found that players find them particularly entertaining and are attracted to playing games which involve wheel games. While current wheel games provide users with enjoyment, the need exists for alternative gaming systems in order to maintain and increase player enjoyment.